Of Roses And Ravens
by Aine Ninian
Summary: A drabble of sorts. I'm not sure if this is going to be a one shot or if it is going to evolve into a full fledged story...
1. Chapter 1

**My very first ItaSaku... finally...**

**Naruto belongs to Kishimoto, something which is regretted by all hardcore ItaSaku fans**.

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><p><em><strong>Of Roses And Ravens<strong>_

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><p>The smell of rain was intoxicating. He walked to the balcony, wishing to<br>savor it fully. Itachi Uchiha had always loved rain. It was cleansing. The  
>world was painted with a blur that melded colors and brought out the beauty<br>of the mundane in the most unexpected manner. For instance the glaring red of  
>a lady bug sheltering under a leaf or the vivid viridian orbs possessed by a<br>certain pink haired kunoichi. The former he was certain he would have  
>discounted, were the sun shining. The latter however, he was not so sure.<p>

It was raining when he met Sakura. He knew his mother would disapprove of his  
>enjoying the shower spell, were he sitting on the balcony of his home. She<br>would demand he stay inside, out of the rain's evil, disease spreading  
>clutches. So he decided to seek shelter under a large banyan tree. The tree<br>was occupied by a sobbing mass. With pink hair, nonetheless. He approached the  
>girl, uncertain of what else to do. The mop of pink shifted, revealing<br>cerulean irises that were bright from the tears shed. He noted a large patch  
>where her head had been resting on her knee.<p>

He took out the hand kerchief his mother had always insisted he carry and  
>proceeded to wipe her face with it. The girl started at the contact, but<br>provided no resistance as he wiped her face clean. It was relatively dry under  
>the canopy of the huge tree.<p>

"What is your name?" he asked her.

"S-s..sa.. Sakura Haruno," she finally stuttered out. The name was rather apt  
>for the girl in question.<p>

"Why are you weeping?" he asked

"It's nothing," she said turning away.

"Tell me, Sakura," he insisted, forcing her to face him. His eyes held no contempt,  
>only a genuine concern.<p>

"Everyone said I have a huge forehead," she admitted. He did not laugh at her and  
>call her superficial as she had expected he would. Instead, he bent down and<br>kissed her forehead, and merely smiled in response to her astounded expression.

Itachi Uchiha was not someone who did anything without a reason. Yet the  
>reason for that particular action evaded him.<p>

The pinkette looked shell-shocked at his actions. She raised her fingers to  
>her forehead and touched what felt like an indelible impression against her<br>fore head.

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><p><strong><em>3 years later.<em>**

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><p>She walked toward the familiar form lounging against the lamp post. His raven<br>mane, oft tied in a ponytail, was left loose. She was frowning lightly as she  
>went to him.<p>

"I got assigned to a team today Itachi," she said.

He enjoyed his…..acquaintance... with Sakura. She was bright, amusing and  
>unassuming. She was completely different from those of his demanding and<br>restrictive clan. He took in her current countenance. She was easily excited.  
>However something seemed to be bothering her. He graced her comment with a<br>nod, silently asking her to continue.

"I was teamed up with Sasuke and Naruto Uzumaki. I cannot believe that this  
>happened. I had to be paired off with biggest idiot in class. I don't know<br>what they were thinking putting him with me. On top of that we are placed on a  
>genin team under Kakashi Hatake. He showed up nearly two hours late and he<br>called us a bunch of idiots. And Naruto placed a duster on his head and he  
>fell for it and…." she rattled off, pausing only to take a breath.<p>

"Kakashi Hatake is a very capable jounin. Although he is a capable ninja, you  
>must acknowledge the fact that he is human and so is entitled to a few<br>shortcomings. You must understand that the Sandaime has seen great potential  
>in you and so is placing under the tutelage of someone who can assist you in<br>tapping into that potential," Itachi said.

She smiled up at him. He found himself relaxing slightly. He did not  
>particularly like seeing Sakura distressed. She held up her lunchbox.<p>

"My mother packed enough for two. Would you care to join me?" she asked.

"Not today, I'm afraid. I'm going to have to celebrate Sasuke's graduation at  
>home," Itachi said. His mother had insisted that he take the day off. She<br>nodded.

"I hope you enjoy yourself today," she said. He inclined his head in  
>acknowledgement before he disappeared in a swirl of smoke and ash. Sakura<br>breathed deeply, loving the acrid tang of smoky ash that was a sign of his transportation jutsu.

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><p><strong><em>2 years later<em>**

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><p>He found her seated on a park bench. Her knees were drawn up to her chest. She<br>rested her chin against a knee and stared unseeingly into the watery depths of  
>the lake that were positioned close to the bench.<p>

He felt discomfited to see her in such a state. Their failure in the chunnin  
>exams was the excuse that the Uchiha clan had used to force a wedge between<br>Sasuke and his teammates.

The clan grew weary of trying to force Itachi to conform to their ways and  
>Itachi's stubborn refusal to comply. They had then turned their attention to<br>Sasuke. Itachi disliked this particular turn of events. He was more than  
>capable of dealing with his clan. Of Sasuke's capability, he was not so sure.<br>Judging by the expression on Sakura's face, it seemed that Sasuke was  
>incapable of dealing with the pressure the clan put on him. He would have to<br>deal with the Sasuke soon.

First things first. He headed to Sakura. Over the past two years, Sakura had  
>grown fond of her teammates and was fiercely protective of them. He placed a<br>hand on her shoulder. She looked up, startled. She did not say anything; she  
>simply turned away and stared determinedly at the lake.<p>

He found that it displeased him to have her upset. His quick mind narrowed  
>down the list of possible reasons to two.<p>

One, she was upset about the way the Uchiha clan had requested for a dispersal  
>of team seven. And she somehow, blamed him for it.<p>

Two, Naruto Uzumaki, her comrade from team seven was leaving to train under  
>the sannin Jiraiya, effectively ruining any chance of a requesting a rejection<br>of the aforementioned plea.

"Sakura," he tried again, tentatively. She swiveled an eye toward him. For a  
>minute, the expression in her gaze caught him off guard. The moment, thankfully,<br>passed quickly and he queried.

"Tell me what upsets you?"

She barked out a laugh.

"Shouldn't it be obvious Uchiha," she said, a steel edge to her words

It was the laugh that strengthened his determination. When Sakura laughed, it  
>was a sound-unrestrained and free. It was filled with her mirth, her love of<br>life. It left him wanting to hear more. The sound she made now was a cruel  
>mockery of her laughter.<p>

"It is not. Which is why I am asking you to verify it," he responded.

As sudden as her outburst was the slump of her shoulders. Her eyes were  
>beginning to shine with an unusual sheen. Tears were pooling fast and before<br>the first of the treacherous drops could escape, she turned and fled in a half-blind haze. He followed her to the grove located deep in the heart of the  
>forest adjoining the park. He caught her as she stumbled on a root.<p>

"Don't….." she whispered.

"What do you not want me doing?" He asked her.

The hiss emanating from the female was venomous enough to make the Uchiha think of retreating a few paces.

"That clan of yours is the entire reason my team has split up. Naruto has gone to train with Jiraya. Sasuke will be training with your clan and Kakashi sensei is going to be away on a three year long mission and I…" she trailed off at the end, her voice failing her.

Itachi viewed Sakura speculatively. "Kakashi tells me your taijutsu skills require sharpening and your ninjutsu does not have much power." At this Sakura looked, if possible, even more furious. Ignoring her sudden death glare he continued blithely "however the one thing he noted to be exceptional was your charka control. You could apply for a position as either a medic nin or a seal weaving expert as both fields require exceptional charka control."

Sakura's gaze trained quizzical gaze on Itachi. "And you're telling me this because?" she queried.

"It should be rather obvious which course of action to take here after" said Itachi as he turned and walked away from her, a fractional tug at the corner of his lip projecting his thoughts for a moment.


	2. Chapter 2

_**The Next Morning**_

The Godaime Hokage was leaning back as far as her chair would allow, cradling a file in her hands, when she heard a knock on her door.

"Enter" she commanded.

To her great non-surprise, she found Sakura Haruno entering her chamber. She smiled inwardly. She had been expecting this for a while now. She didn't know what had taken the Kunoichi so long to figure this out. She waited patiently for the Kunoichi to speak.

"Tsunade sama, I want to ask you if you would take me as your apprentice." She said in a rush, words running into each other due to the haste with which they were rid of from the speaker.

The blonde woman studied Sakura's countenance with a speculative eye before saying

"Are you certain you want to be a medic nin? I can assure you that it will not be easy. It will push you to the very limits of your capability and beyond. I will not tolerate excuses nor will I take kindly to weakness. Show me that you want to learn and I will teach."

The mop of pink bobbed once." I want to learn everything you can teach me."

Tsunade smiled.

**3 months later**

Sakura was hobbling home. An entire afternoon of training during which she had to learn to manipulate charka into blades of varying length followed by a taijutsu spar with Tsunade had left her feeling drained. Tsunade then asked her to spend the rest of the day in the hospital, dogging Shizune to observe the various types of healing jutsu used for the varied severity of wounds, abrasions, extraction and so on had left her feeling weary to the bone.

The sigh which escaped her as her home came into view was one of profound relief. She was going to take a long hot shower and then memorize the causes and the cures for the diseases pervading the Fire Country in autumn, the herbs required for each one of the cures, where to find them and also how they are to be added to the portion.

She stopped at the gate. The lights in the house were darkened. That was odd. Her mother never switched the lights off at eight. The next step towards the house had her remembering her conversation with her mother in the morning. Saka had mentioned something about visiting her sister and helping her settle in Waterfall. Where did she say she had put the keys?

Tracking was something she was hopelessly inadept at. She did not want to use her charka enhanced grip on the door and end up accidentally pulverizing the door as she still had to fine tune that particular technique further.

_There goes my nice relaxing shower _she thought to herself.

She couldn't go Ino's house as she was away on a mission and wouldn't return in three weeks. Tenten went with her. She didn't particular want to deal with Hizashi right then so that ruled out Hinata's house.

She seated herself on one of the stone steps leading to her house. She placed her elbow on her knee and rested her cheek against her palm. She slowly drifted to sleep.

A slight tinkle of what sounded like keys jolted her. To her not-very-great surprise, she saw Itachi stand in front of her, dangling her house key in front of her eyes and his own glinting with amusement.

"Itachi-san" she said with a reticent yet acknowledging nod. She wasn't sure how he was going to react after all the accusations she had hurled at him in lieu of his clan.

"Sakura, I assumed that we were past that particular formality at this point of our acquaintance" said he.

She breathed a little sigh of relief.

"Thank you, Itachi" said she, looking up at him. As she looked up, Itachi saw the echo of laughter glimmer from the depth of her verdant irises.


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay…. Itachi is a little OOC in this. He seems to like sparking our little spitfire's temper a little too much to be healthy…. But still, all is fair in love and war… And my apologies to Rock Lee fans if Lee's exuberance seems a little too exaggerated….**

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><p><strong>Chapter 3. The Training Ground Rendezvous.<strong>

The sunrise painted the morning in hues of honey, tangerines and blood. The wind seemed to move slowly and silently so as to not disturb the sleeping village. The birds paid their early morning tribute to Helios. The village as seen from the top of the tallest building in the village, namely the Hokage Tower, would seem to be painted with a brush of serenity. The silence of the morning however was rather abruptly rent by the fiery temper of a certain Hokage punching her student. The magnitude of power poured into the attack caused the said student to hurtle through several clumps of trees. The blond Hokage walked serenely toward her student.

"Sakura, I think that's all the Taijutsu training I'll be able to do with you .This week you will be sparring with Lee. You both are to use only Taijutsu. I want you to improve your speed by several minutes," she commanded.

"Sensei, I don't mean to be rude but, why Lee?" Sakura inquired.

Tsunade replied over her shoulder as she went to deal with the current day's duties. "Gai is out on a mission and that's why I want you to keep Lee bu- , I mean train with Lee."

Sakura's brow lifted in part admonishment and part astonishment at her Sensei. Tsunade merely smiled in response and went her way. Sighing and resigning herself to a day of blinding grins and long winded speeches, Sakura made her way to Training Ground 13, a place she knew Team Gai frequented. Sure enough, she found Lee walking around the perimeter of the grounds on his hands. He leaped to his feet and flashed a grin that blinded the sun itself, if only for a moment.

"Sakura, my cherry blossom of youth, what brings you to me? Can it be? I dare not hope…. Have you finally discovered that your heart longs for me as mine does you?" spoketh he who had blinded the sun itself for a moment.

"Er… Not exactly Lee. Tsunade-sama asked me to train with you to improve my Taijutsu with you. If you don't have any thing else to do," replied the significant other of Lee's bottomless heart.

"There is nothing in the world I would rather be doing than train with my beloved Sakura," declared Lee, blissfully oblivious to the not-very-devious scheme of the Hokage.

And so, the entire afternoon was spent sparring. As sun traveled west, it found the pink haired kunoichi gasping for breath while clutching her forearm (which was weeping tears of blood in a steady stream) while Lee was hurrying to the nearest medical shop to purchase bandages, cotton and disinfectant.

Sakura sensed rather than saw the shadow that moved from her blind spot. Her lips tugged at the corners, despite the pain in her arm, she smile in greeting to the dark haired male who had just appeared before her.

"How did your mission go?" Sakura queried, tilting her head slightly to observe the man who approached her.

"It was successful." he replied as he knelt before her and observed the cut with the focus of a neurosurgeon about to perform a very tricky operation.

"How did this happen?" questioned the dark haired Uchiha heir, as he brought a lightly glowing hand to her cut.

"I was sparring, I lost my focus and I was caught by a rather powerful kick and I landed on a rather sharp rock. It was entirely my fault," answered the pinkette who was now blushing lightly and scratching the tip of her nose.

"I think it is best if you retire for the day," Itachi stated.

"I don't think that would go over very well with Tsunade sama's orders," Sakura replied coolly, her voice edged with steel. "Personally, I think a little cut isn't a reason to stop training. Especially if I'm going to be training to become the kind of kunoichi I intend to become."

Smirking slightly, he acquiesced "Very well. I will let this slide on the condition that you train with me everyday after you finish training with the Godaime."

He felt rather proud of her now. Sasuke must have been blind to not see the sort of person she was, if his ranting on how _girly _his teammate was anything to go by.

Her expression did lighten somewhat. "I don't think you'll go away even if I said no."

"No I will not."

"Then I guess I'll be there around seven this evening. Training Ground 6."

He then stood and then on nodding a goodbye to Sakura, he left. Lee re-appeared a few seconds later, only to find his dreams of treating Sakura's wounds dashed against a rock, as he found her wounds tended to with enough expertise that her forearm seemed to not have been wounded in the first discovered, to his great dismay, that it was utterly impossible to spar with Sakura as the said female would gaze at the sun every few minutes or not pay attention to him as he guided her through the most effective counters against his most lethal moves. At dusk, he decided that he had enough of taijutsu spars and decided to retire for the day, his offer to take her out to dinner and was politely but firmly declined by Sakura's 'prior commitments'.

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><p><strong>This is not beta-ed by someone else and I don't think my patching up skills are that abysmal. Even so please tell me of grammatical errors or spelling mistakes and so, if any. Sorry about the delay in getting this out. My schedule gets extremely hectic from here on and it doesn't help to have an Avatar- The Last Airbender obsession as well. I think I might do a Kitara and Zuko pairing next.<br>**


End file.
